Week 2: Fantasy Football PPR Rankings

Welcome back! If you’re reading this for the first time, welcome. If you read my Fantasy Football Week 1 PPR Rankings article and you’re back for more, why? I should have been bad enough that you are flocking to another site for your rankings now. Seriously though, thank you for coming back! Before I jump into week 2, let’s see how I did in week 1… drum roll please…

Week 1 was bad. I get it. If you stop reading this article, I completely understand. I implore you to have patience with my rankings. For one, I’ll be the first to admit where I was wrong. And secondly, I’m going to be working hard to get better each and every week. With that said I only got 8 of the top 15 QBs and TEs, 6 of the top 15 RBs, and 5 of the top 15 WRs. It was bad. The one line of defense I have is to simply say that it was a weird week in fantasy football. Who would have guessed that rookie Kareem Hunt and Alex Smith playing against the pre-season Super Bowl favorites New England Patriots on a Thursday night would end up being the top 2 scorers in fantasy? No one. And when I say no one, I mean not a single person on this planet. So week 1 was weird, let’s get on to week 2.

QB:

Hallelujah’s: Players that I’m generally higher than consensus

Marcus Mariota @ JAX: Sometimes I don’t understand consensus tendencies. Mariota was QB6 last week against the solid defense of the Tennessee Titans but he’s ranked out of the top 10 this week? Start him with confidence and profit!

Carson Palmer @ IND: Yes, Palmer was atrocious last week. It was ugly. I started him across all my leagues and loved his pricing in DFS as well. He was a disaster. Let’s take a deep breath though. He’s going against the Colts who allowed Jared Goff to throw for over 300 yards against them. Plus, he just lost David Johnson for 2-3 months. I’m not giving up and neither should you.

Sam Bradford @ PIT: I am sold. You need to know that for many years I was a St. Louis Rams fan and I had so much hope for Bradford. He could never stay healthy. I have always believed though and now he has an opportunity with one of the most underrated passing attacks in the NFL. I like this to be a shootout because the Steelers are at home and they will put up points. I might be biased and some may call me crazy but I think he’s going to be great this week.

Dak Prescott @ DEN: Dak defeated Goliath! This kid is good. There will be no sophomore slump. He overcame his biggest mental hurdle – the New York Giants. In all honesty, I think 12 is too low. My stake is placed firmly in the ground and I won’t be surprised if Dak is a top 5 QB next season. Get used to him being in the Hallelujah section of this article unless he gets hurt.

Halle-ewww-ya’s: Players that I’m generally lower than consensus

Kirk Cousins: consensus #12 but I’m a believer in Wade Phillip’s defense in Los Angeles. He struggled week 1 and I think those struggles will continue.

Alex Smith: consensus #15 and I just can’t fit him in there. He’s going to be the ultimate boom/bust QB this year. He benefited tremendously from an injury depleted New England defense. But he needs to get credit, I just want to see it consistently.

RB:

Hallelujah’s: Players that I’m generally higher than consensus

Todd Gurley vs WASH: 2.1YPC is bad. Let’s just get that out of the way right now. He was up against a stingy AZ defense but he needed to do better. Here’s why I’m not losing hope – 19 attempts and 6 passing targets – 21 TOTAL OPPORTUNITIES! And he had 11.2YPR. If he continues to see passing work like that he’s got one of the safest floors in the NFL along with a ceiling that only LeVeon Bell, Ezekiel Elliot, and Kareem Hunt can match!

Mike Gillislee @ NO: I wanted to put Gillislee in my top 15 last week. I should have. I didn’t have enough courage. That won’t happen this week. He is clearly their goal line RB. He was also the best between-the-tackles runner. He only had 3YPC compared to James White 3.8 but most of that was situational. His goal line carries short-and-goal and he had several more short yardage runs for 1sts downs. Go watch the 4th series for New England. Gillislee was on the field for nearly the entire drive and here are his yards on each carry: 4yrds, 16yrds, 9yrds, 4yrds, 2yrds, 2yrds – that’s 6 carries for 6.1YPC. Don’t just chase the TDs, chase the best RB on this team!

James White @ NO: The Patriots really like James White. He will never be the goal line RB but he will see plenty of opportunity. He had 15 total opportunities (10 carries, 5 targets) and I don’t see that disappearing. Unless things dramatically change in New Orleans is going to put up points on this defense which means New England is going to be in no huddle, passing situations. This will give White plenty of opportunity to produce fantasy points for your team.

Halle-ewww-ya’s: Players that I’m generally lower than consensus:

DeMarco Murray @ JAX: I’m not really sure why I’m not higher on Murray this week. I think the Titans will win this game but I also believe that JAX defense is really good. Overall this could be a low-scoring game. Murray should get opportunity so I don’t blame you if you like him over any of the RBs I have in the 11-15 range.

WR:

Hallelujah’s: Players that I’m generally higher than consensus

Michael Thomas vs NE: The number 1 WR on a team with Drew Brees throwing him the ball against a depleted Patriots defense? Yes, please. I was way off predicting the shootout games last week, but they usually get easier to predict.

Stefon Diggs @ PIT: For reason #1 see Sam Bradford above. Diggs is one of the breakout favorites across twitter and I’ve been on this train since before last year. I love what I see from this kid. He’s got it all. Speed, route running, and elusiveness. Pair that with an accurate passer in Bradford and it’s a deadly combination.

DeAndre Hopkins @ CIN: Tom Savage played one half and was a putrid 1 for 7 when targeting Hopkins. In steps Watson in his first NFL game of his career and he wasn’t great. Let’s not pretend his performance was anything but bad. He was 12/23 for 102, 1TD, 1INT and 1FUM. But he was 5/11 when targeting Hopkins and that’s all you need. The young QB is going to rely on dump offs to Miller/TEs and then he’s going to feed Hopkins.

Dez Bryant @ DEN: Repeat after me, “Dez is a stud.” Please don’t forget this. He does have a tough schedule and the Denver secondary is legit. But he is an elite redzone threat. And everyone seems to forget before he got hurt he was a top 5 WR up at the top with Antonio Brown and Julio Jones. He still has the skills. Dak is progressing as a second year passer and I think we will begin to see that work pay off. Don’t lose faith, stand strong!

Halle-ewww-ya’s: Players that I’m generally lower than consensus:

Antonio Brown vs MIN: I’m “lower” but let’s be honest, he’s still a stud and you’re starting him no matter who else you have on your roster. Minnesota’s secondary is the real deal and I just think they will keep Brown from going bananas.

A.J. Green vs HOU: Dalton was terrible in week 1, that much is not up for debate. Houston’s defense is a solid group with a very strong defensive line. Cincinnati’s offensive line is terrible. There is no other sure fire recipe for a bad week from Dalton and this will affect Green’s overall performance.

Odell Beckham Jr. vs DET: I left him off the list because it came out today that he is dealing with a high ankle sprain. I’m going to need to see one week of full practice AND a game before I start considering him fully healthy. This is a tough blow for fantasy teams because he was hurt before week 1 but no one knew how severe it was. For now you have to wait it out unless you get blown away by a trade offer.

TE:

Hallelujah’s: Players that I’m generally higher than consensus

Coby Fleener vs NE: Hey, look who it is?! This should look familiar because he was my top Hallelujah TE for week 1. And he delivered to the tune of 5/6 receptions, 54 yards and TD. Granted the TD was in garbage time but it still counts! This week against NE they will have to put up points. Until I see New England playing defense at an elite level again, I’m going to be starting a lot of fantasy players against them.

Jared Cook: Tight end is always about opportunity. He’s in an offense that will score points and they are playing the New York Jets who are blatantly tanking.

Evan Engram vs DET: Hey, lookey here! It’s another TE that made my Hallelujah list last week. Engram is in an offense without it’s number 1 WR and facing a defense that is the bottom 5 defending TEs so yes, please start him this week!

**Honorable Mention – Austin Hooper vs GB: Technically I’m not higher on him than consensus but I’d just like to point out that he would be the 3rd TE of the week to make this list twice. I thought about bumping him up a couple ranks just to make that argument but I decided against it. Please temper your expectations though. He only had TWO targets. I’m hoping that he earned a higher percentage of the pie but until we can see a little more consistency it’s going to be hard to put him much higher than 13-15 on a weekly basis.

Halle-ewww-ya’s: Players that I’m generally lower than consensus:

Travis Kelce vs PHI: I hated what I saw in terms of production from Kelce. 7 targets, 5 receptions and 40 yards is all you got. The good news is that he was second in targets on the team and he’s healthy. I don’t like the matchup in PHI but we’ll see how it goes. I kind of think there’s an emotional let down for Alex Smith after such a huge win.

Zach Ertz @ KC: No idea why I’m so down on Ertz. I just can’t find a way to push him higher in my rankings. Eventually I will probably have to do it. But for this week, I’m not because of how well the Chiefs played against Gronkowski.

Jordan Reed @ LAR: I hate foot injuries. They always seem “minor” but the idea of playing through them makes me cringe. For a TE that has been plagued with concussions, I don’t like hearing he is playing through a broken toe. Especially for a guy who relies on his speed like Reed, this has to slow him down a little.

That’s a wrap for week 2! Thanks for hanging in there and I hope you keep coming back. Don’t forget to hit me up on twitter @FantasyPastor!